THE Mwanza City Council from March next year is expected to implement a giant multi-billion commercial complex project aimed at stimulating businesses and attracting more investors in the region.

Mwanza city Assistant Economist and Planning Officer, Joseph Kashushula told the 'Daily News' on Friday that all the necessary preparations have been completed and that the commercial complex would be located at Ghana Area in Ilemela District.

He said the project is expected to stimulate businesses across the Lake Zone and the East African Community at large, “The project is expected to take three years and it is a joint venture between the Mwanza City authority and Local Authority pension Fund (LAPF),” said Kashushula.

Tuesday, 20 December 2011

FISH-processing factories in the country are on the verge of closing for lack of adequate fish supplies, it has been said.

Illicit fishing, which is said to have reached a crisis point around the country, has led to the depletion of fish population, triggering the current shortage that has left the factories yawning.

Dynamite fishing, where explosives are used to kill schools of fish for easy collection, and catching of immature fish have depleted the lakes and seas, according to Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MCS) fisheries units in Mwanza and Kilwa Kivinje.

Friday, 16 December 2011

ABOUT 4,000 pupils who have passed this year's Primary School exams may not be able to pursue Secondary School studies due to a shortage of classrooms in the region.

Mwanza Regional Educational Officer (REO), Mr Khamis Maulid, said on Thursday that a total of 57,274 out of 93,918 candidates who sat for this year's primary education exams passed.

The REO said a total of 31,560 male pupils and 25,714 girls who sat for the exams in all seven districts of the region which are Mwanza Urban, Ukerewe, Magu, Sengerema, Kwimba, Misungwi and Geita scored above average in all five subjects.

The residents in these areas were found scrambling to buy water from street vendors at the cost of between 300/- and 1000/- per bucket.

"We have been experiencing water shortages for over two weeks now. This situation is unbearable to us because we can hardly afford to buy water at such exorbitant prices," lamented one Buhongwa ward resident, Mr Maduhu Gishiro.

Tuesday, 6 December 2011

Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda was among passengers who were stranded when heavy rains caused floods that prompted closure of Mwanza Airport lasting nearly six hours.

Aircraft could neither land nor take off as a major part of the runway and taxiways were covered with water.

Mr Pinda was in Mwanza to attend the 40th anniversary of Weil Bugando Referral Hospital celebrations. He had arrived from Dar es Salaam on Friday evening for a three-day visit, which he concluded earlier yesterday, only for his return journey to be put on hold on account of the flooded airport.

A similar ordeal faced passengers bound for Mwanza from elsewhere, including Julius Nyerere International Airport.

The floods occurred only three weeks after similar incident last month.Talking to The Citizen on the phone, the Mwanza Airport manager, Ms Esther Mdale, said they were forced to close the airport for obvious safety reasons.

“The runway and taxiways were flooded and no plane could land or take off. That is why we decided to close the facility for six hours. After clearing it, we will assess the situation before opening it for resumption of operations,” she said earlier in the day.

Mwanza. The Weill Bugando Hospital, in dire need of expansion and rehabilitation, received a major boost that could change its fortunes following a successful fundraising function that netted Sh60 million.

The event on Friday night was spearheaded by Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda and saw pledges amounting to over Sh1.4 billion made by individuals and organisations, especially from the mining sector.

African Barrick Gold was on top of the list after pledging to fund two of the five new theatres needed at the cost of Sh500 million. It was followed by Ausdrill (T) Limited. The international Australian company dealing in drilling, blasting and exploration of gold pledged to fund another theatre at the cost of Sh237 million.

Tucta Mwanza Region pledged Sh200 million. The trade union had also participated in a fundraising campaign to rehabilitate the Mwanza regional hospital two years ago when it contributed Sh196 million.

The eyesore that is Mwanza Airport when it rains reared its ugly head again on Sunday. This time around, it was none other than the country’s Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda, who was at the receiving end. His flight out of the lakeside city was delayed for more than six hours!

This was not the first time that such a cancellation was effected at this extremely important facility. Which is to say, we aren’t raising the matter simply because our PM was caught in the thick of things.

Mwanza is a busy commercial hub, being Tanzania’s second largest city whose importance cannot be overemphasised. It is ironical that authorities seem helpless in the face of this flooding problem that leads to cancellation of flights whenever there is a downpour.

Sunday, 4 December 2011

TODAY’S lifestyle has changed the way many women think with regard to education. Like men, they too aspire for knowledge and make efforts to get it by any means to supplement the communal struggle to eliminate poverty.

The saying of ‘ukimwelimisha mwanamke umeelimisha jamii’ in the country today has stocked the fire in women’s ire to get more education for economic independence. In English the saying means: “If you educate a woman, you educate a family.”

“I feel proud when at the end of the month I can decide in my family that we have to do this and that,” said Ms Prisca Mhanus, a Bachelor of Education at St. Augustine student at the University of Tanzania (SAUT) in Mwanza. Ms Mhanus feels happy and proud when she caters for the family from her own pocket to take some economic weight off her husband’s shoulders.

THE Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Pinda, on Saturday succeeded to solicit a total of 1.5bn/- during a fund-raising event aimed at rehabilitating and improving health services delivery at the Bugando Medical Centre.

The event took place at the Gold Crest Hotel in Mwanza city. The amount exceeded the previous target of 1bn/- and it took the premier about three hours to convince businessmen, financial institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), local authorities and members of the general public to contribute for the course.

Major contributions came from African Gold Barrick Mine that pledged to contribute 500m/-, while Geita Gold Mine pledged a total of 200m/-. Others were Aus Drill (237m/-), TUCTA-Mwanza (200m/-) and seven Mwanza municipal councils which contributed a total of over 70m/-.

Others in the list were Serengeti Breweries, Vick Fish, Nyanza Roads Works, Gold Crest Hotel and Shia Ithna Asheri, which altogether pledged to contribute a total of 45m/-. About 60m/- was obtained in cash during the fund-raising event and the remaining 1.4bn/- was pledges. President Jakaya Kikwete and Premier Pinda pledged to contribute a total of 24m/-.

Saturday, 3 December 2011

TANZANIA Revenue Authority (TRA) in Mwanza region has for the past fifteen years exceeded a target of tax collections by over 100 per cent.

The TRA Regional Manager Jeremiah Lusana told a news conference on Friday that the revenue authority was since its inception in 1996 required to collect 642m/-, but the actual collections had until then stood at 642,605,191,000/-, which was equivalent to an increase of 102 per cent.

“Although we face a number of challenges in the process of tax collections, we still have succeeded to go above the stated targets here in Mwanza region.